The League of American Cyclists recently released a follow up report to the ground breaking 2009 report, The Economic Benefits of Bicycle Infrastructure Investments. The initial report took data from across the nation, from rural and urban environments, different levels of infrastructure, and told us what we had long suspected: that bicycling makes a lot of sense in an economic way too, besides all the other reasons.
The infographic above highlights some of the astounding positive economic changes that are happening across the United States due to cycling. (A zoom-able version of the infographic may be found here.) Some noteworthy facts include, increases in real estate value for homes located near bike paths; cycling-industry-generated revenue supporting and generating jobs; and even local businesses seeing increases in patronage once bike lanes and other traffic calming measures are put into play.
Cycling seems to be making a lot of sense for the usually mentioned reasons, such as health – but also the very powerful motivating factor of economics. But perhaps you read this and think: This won’t work for me because I live too far away from work. There’s no bicycle infrastructure near me. It gets dark too early. What about winter? I can’t do this every day.
Here at Montague we’ve addressed those sorts of concerns with Park and Pedal. Multi-model transit bridges the gap between these worthwhile concerns and the benefits of cycling. The folding bicycle lets you take advantage of both the economic sense – and cents – of cycling without these concerns becoming weighty.
Bike goes in the trunk:
Drive part of the way, bike part of the way – and then you have the best of both worlds. Or make the bridge with public transit. Whatever way you move, bridging this gap means all of the benefits are yours for the taking.
